Category: Human Exceptionalism

^{Type
post

Date
October 13, 2026

Categories
Human Exceptionalism
Neuroscience & Mind
Philosophy
Tagged
, Aeon, Arizona, artificial inteligence, computer scientists, COSM 2026, David Hume, education, freedom, friendship, Hugging Face, human exceptionalism, Immanuel Kant, injustice, intelligence, large language models, machines, optimisation, philosophers, philosophy, Reality Check, reason, Sasha Mudd, Scottsdale}

With Our Exceptional Place in Nature, Human Reason Is Much More than Machine “Reason”

_{Science & Culture
October 13, 2026

Human Exceptionalism, Neuroscience & Mind, Philosophy

3}

Skeptical Hume held that “Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions,” and can “never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.” Read More ›

United Nations Headquarters in New York, USA

^{Type
post

Author
Wesley J. Smith

Date
September 30, 2026

Categories
Bioethics
Human Exceptionalism
Tagged
, AKET Fund, Alfred Kobacker, bees, commodities, earth religion, economic thriving, Elizabeth Trimbach Fund, fossil fuel, General Assembly, glaciers, Green Party, House of Lords, human freedom, indigenous knowledge, minerals, mountains, National Geographic Society, nature, oil, Panama, progress, rivers, timber, trees, United Nations, waves}

Nature Rights — Now Coming to the United Nations

_{Wesley J. Smith
September 30, 2026

Bioethics, Human Exceptionalism

4}

The potential harm to human thriving and to our self-perception as an exceptional species cannot be overstated. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
September 28, 2026

Categories
Human Exceptionalism
Life Sciences
Neuroscience & Mind
Tagged
, ant swarms, Audrey Dussutour, biology, brain, carbon, cognition, consciousness, cuttlefish, eliminative materialism, eyes, fungi, Hokkaido University, human exceptionalism, humans, intelligence, jellyfish, limbs, Michael Levin, mouth, nuclei, oat flakes, panpsychism, Physarum polycephalum, plants, protoplasm, Samanth Subramanian, silicon, The Guardian, Tokyo, Toshiyuki Nakagaki, trees}

Slime Smarts: These Brainless Blobs Are Brighter than You Thought

_{Denyse O’Leary
September 28, 2026

Human Exceptionalism, Life Sciences, Neuroscience & Mind

7}

Some want to claim that slime molds poses a threat to the idea that humans are exceptional. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Wesley J. Smith

Date
September 24, 2026

Categories
Ethics
Human Exceptionalism
Tagged
, agency, anthropomorphizing, arctic ice, Arctic Institute, Arctic sea ice, cattle ranches, crabs, elements, fossil fuel, geological features, glacier rights, human exceptionalism, humans, ice melt, intelligentsia, Jim Hightower, minerals, mystification, National Geographic Society, nature rights, NGOs, persons, rights of nature, sea ice, University of Helsinki}

Will You Take Ice with That? The Latest Madness from Nature Rights

_{Wesley J. Smith
September 24, 2026

Ethics, Human Exceptionalism

7}

Ice has no agency. It is frozen water. Water contains minerals and other elements. Do they have rights, too? Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Wesley J. Smith

Date
March 17, 2026

Categories
Ethics
Human Exceptionalism
Life Sciences
Tagged
, ancestors, blackmail, Death with Dignity, flourishing, forests, groves, Harvard Law School, human thriving, humans, indigenous people, irrationality, lawfare, life cycles, Moon, mysticism, nature, nature rights, neo-paganism, nutrients, oceans, Peruvian bees, property, rivers, soil, students, temperature, toolkit, tree rights, universities, University of Sussex, water, woodlands}

In Latest Statement from a University, Tree Rights Advocacy Is Based on Irrationality

_{Wesley J. Smith
March 17, 2026

Ethics, Human Exceptionalism, Life Sciences

5}

We protect trees and woodlands with laws and regulations without resorting to irrational ideological justifications and materially impeding human thriving. Read More ›

Closeup of a newborn baby dreaming and smiling while sleeping.

^{Type
post

Author
George Montañez

Date
March 12, 2026

Categories
Computational Sciences
Human Exceptionalism
Tagged
, AI systems, angels, Arthur Benjamin, artifacts, artificial inteligence, atheists, Buddhists, Christianity, dehumanizing, ethics, functional capabilities, Herodians, Hindus, human abilities, human intelligence, human value, humans, image, image-bearing, intelligence, jesus, Judaism, Judeo-Christian framework, Muslims, newborn, Pharisees, representation, resemblance, Son of Man, spiritual beings}

Why AI Won’t Replace Us Spiritually

_{George Montañez
March 12, 2026

Computational Sciences, Human Exceptionalism

7}

AI systems increasingly resemble human intelligence. But resemblance alone does not make them image bearers. It cannot. AI systems do not represent God. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
George Montañez

Date
February 26, 2026

Categories
Computational Sciences
Human Exceptionalism
Technology
Tagged
, AI agents, automaton, capability widgets, computer, desire, digital media, displacement, disruption, economics, expertise, generative AI systems, goal-setting, Hidden Figures, human computer, humans, information technology, Johannes Gutenberg, journalism, knowledge, labor, literacy, machines, manual labor, manufacturing, mass media, publishing, replacement, science, scribes, tech economy, technology, widgets, work}

Will Humans Still Matter in an AI Economy?

_{George Montañez
February 26, 2026

Computational Sciences, Human Exceptionalism, Technology

7}

Before Johannes Gutenberg’s invention, scribes painstakingly copied manuscripts by hand. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
George Montañez

Date
February 25, 2026

Categories
Computational Sciences
Human Exceptionalism
Tagged
, animals, arithmetic, artificial inteligence, attention, bigram model, Claude, Claude Shannon, coherence, comprehension, computer code, conversations, Data Processing Inequality, disinformation, embedding, English, fish, food, functional capability, games, generative AI systems, GPT-5, humans, incompleteness theorem, information theory, Kurt Gödel, large language models, mathematical reasoning, model collapse, music, numbers, pixels, poetry, processing, prompts, reasoning, René Magritte, semantics, statistical patterns, syntax, The Treachery of Images, tokens, vectors, video, William Shakespeare, word approximation, words}

Why AI Can’t Replace Us Functionally

_{George Montañez
February 25, 2026

Computational Sciences, Human Exceptionalism

9}

The map is not the territory. The symbol is not the thing. And the model is not the mind. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Wesley J. Smith

Date
February 10, 2026

Categories
Genetics
Human Exceptionalism
Tagged
, 1 percent myth, Casey Luskin, Center for Science and Culture, chimp genome, chimpanzees, Darwinian evolution, Discovery Institute, educators, genetic difference, genetics, genome, geology, human beings, human exceptionalism, human genome, intelligent design, scientists, Smithsonian Institution, speakers, statistics, students, UC San Diego, University of Johannesburg, University of San Diego}

Dr. Luskin on Human/Chimp Genetic Differences and Why They Matter

_{Wesley J. Smith
February 10, 2026

Genetics, Human Exceptionalism

2}

I invited one of Discovery Institute’s premier scholars to discuss new findings and the meaning of it all. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
J. Budziszewski

Date
February 5, 2026

Categories
Bioethics
Human Exceptionalism
Tagged
, animals, Bloodhound Gang, cats, children, conversation, Discovery Channel, embodied beings, friendship, Gombe Chimpanzee War, human beings, humans, incorporeal intelligences, J. Budziszewsk, laboratory animals, laws, locusts, mammals, Pandemic of Lunacy, parents, primates, rationality, snakes, spouses, transhumanists, University of Texas, wolves, worship}

Are We Just Animals? A Tempting Delusion

_{J. Budziszewski
February 5, 2026

Bioethics, Human Exceptionalism

5}

Some of my students argue that humans should be wiped off the face of the earth to make room for the other species. Read More ›